15 Things You Didn’t Know About “Sorry”

1. The first trick filmed, that made it into Sorry, was Geoff Rowley’s lipslide down the double-kink in Laguna, in ’97. The last trick filmed, just days before the May 21, ’02 premiere, was Tom Penny’s line at the Belmont ledges in Long Beach.

2. Ali Boulala tried to ollie the 25-stair on two separate occasions. The first time, he landed it but his board exploded on impact. The second time, was the last day that he was able to try it since Sorry’s main filmer, Fred Mortagne, was leaving for the United States the following day to edit the video. Unfortunately, on the way there it started to drizzle. To make matters worse, Ali still had to set up a board. Feeling rushed by the weather, Ali went for it without even warming up. He landed on his board, but couldn’t stay on. He went to try it again, but the run-up was getting wet and his foot slipped while pushing full-speed. He lost his balance at the point of no-return, so he had to go for it anyway. He kicked his board away mid-ollie, hoping he would clear the steps. He landed feet-first on the flat, severely bruising both heels and taking him out for two months. The whole session lasted no more than five minutes.

3. The reason Ali’s dog, Sid, is puking at the beginning of his part, is it accidentally ate Ali’s piece of hash. Ali found it in the vomit. It is unknown if Ali smoked it later, but an inside source said that he was pretty stoked that it was recovered.

4. It took the Sorry premier to bring Tom Penny back to the United States after leaving the country six years earlier. He only stayed for two weeks

5. The roof that Ali kickflips off of-onto the green, metal container, at the end of his part-was the roof of Rowley’s biology classroom at his high school, Calderstone Community School, in Liverpool, England.

6. At one point during the production of the video, Rowley and Arto decided they would share a padless vert section that would morph into Rune Glifberg’s part. But, after a week of skating vert with pads and not making much progress, they decided to ditch the idea.

7. Despite being on the team longer than most of the other guys, Rune basically had nothing on film just a few months prior to the premier. Knowing that the street footage would take a lot longer to film, Rune decided to hold off filming until the end so his part wouldn’t look old. A reasonably concerned Fred and Flip owner, Jeremy Fox, were unaware of Rune’s intentions and expected him not to have a full part. To their relief, his entire segment was filmed in four months.

8. The end credits of the video were supposed to show Rowley doing a base jump-essentially skydiving off of a cliff or building with a parachute stuffed in your hand rather than a backpack. After trying skydiving for the first time, the realization that he knew very little about base jumping-and that he could possible die-quickly set in. Additionally, he would have had to skydive another 30 to 40 times to get the experience necessary to base jump. Understandably, we get the animated monkey instead.

9. The car windshield that Ali breaks in the beginning of the video almost got him and Fred jumped by a crew of angry Gypsies. In Ali and Fred’s defense, the side of the car that wasn’t shown had considerable damage. They mistakenly thought that it was abandoned. In reality, it was just being stored until the owner could afford to have it repaired. So, when a witness-the voice of the woman screaming at them in the video-saw Ali smash the windshield with his board she alerted a group of Gypsies who immediately began chasing Ali and Fred. Scared shitless, they jumped in their car and got stuck at a red light. When the angry mob got dangerously close, they ran the red-even with a cop just across the street. Luckily, they got away. Months later, Sorry premiered at the Lyon Skatepark in France, very near the location of the incident. Fearing he would be recognized, Ali showed up incognito-wearing a hat and glasses.

10. Opting to not use prop, nonalcoholic booze, Johnny Rotten got pretty smashed during the filming of the intros. With Rotten increasingly fumbling his lines, the film crew was skeptical about the quality of his performance. After watching the footage, they realized that it probably turned out better that way. Since then, Rotten has been enthusiastic about the video and has sported Sorry T-shirts at high-profile events.

11. At six a.m., near Salvador Dali’s house in Cadaques, Spain, Tom severely injured his ankle while jumping a chasm between two rocks. The footage was used at the beginning of his part. He was on his way to Barcelona to film for eS’ Menikmati, with Eric Koston and Rick McCrank. Since he was unable to film a full part it was decided, by both the people at eS and Flip, that Tom’s part in Menikmati would be recycled footage and they would save whatever new footage he had for Sorry.

12. There was a Johnny Rotten intro filmed for P.J. Ladd. P.J. was unhappy with his sponsor at the time, and wanted to ride for Flip. Due to his contract, he was unable to have any footage in the video. He will have a part in the forthcoming DVD.

13. Arto’s slam was recreated with animation not because the footage was lost, but because it never existed. Arto wanted to film a switch frontside boardslide down the San Dieguito 13. He warmed up with a couple of basic tricks down the rail. When he tried to go for the switch frontside boardslide madness set in, causing him to focus his board. He set up another. When he tried to warm up again with a feeble grind, his kingpin got stuck in a small hole in the rail. He got pitched to the ground, smacking his head and breaking his hand. Dan Sturt, Kirk Dianda, and Geoff were there filming but all of their cameras were still in their bags, as it was only his warm-up trick. Arto was out cold. Sturt tried to revive him, asking him if he knew his own name and address. Arto drifted in and out of consciousness, couldn’t see anything for 20 minutes, and said he was getting cold. After a few minutes, he began puking on himself. Kirk called 911. Arto suffered a massive concussion and temporary amnesia, and had to stay in the hospital for two and a half days.

14. Although there were no females in Sorry, according to Rowley, the despair caused by women was a major source of motivation for he and Arto to film for the video.

15. Mark Appleyard had better luck with the ladies and lost his virginity during the filming period for Sorry. He was 18, the girl was 28. SB